Potential strike already affecting film biz

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - As the clock ticks ever
closer to the June 30 end of the Screen Actors Guild's
contract, the industry is nervously contemplating the
possibility of yet another strike -- even as it admits that, at
least in terms of film production, a de facto strike already
exists.

The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers
(AMPTP), in what could be characterized as its lack-of-progress
report issued Thursday, argued that a de facto strike "limiting
the green-lighting of features and disrupting pilot production"
already has begun. As one talent attorney observed: "No one is
doing anything that finishes after June 30, (and) nobody's
starting anything now. There is the impact of a strike
already."

The threat of a stoppage has had an impact on production
schedules at the major studios, which pushed a slew of projects
into production back in April in order to complete filming by
June 30.

DreamWorks is wrapping both John Hamburg's "I Love You,
Man" and Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" this week, while
Paramount is aiming to finish principal photography during in
the next two weeks on its untitled Wayans Bros. comedy, "G.I.
Joe" and Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," starring Leonardo
DiCaprio. Warners is finishing up shooting on Steven
Soderbergh's "The Informant," its Seth Rogen-starring "Observe
and Report" and the action pic "Ninja Assassin." Universal is
racing the clock on "Land of the Lost," starring Will Ferrell.
Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain," "When in Rome" and "High
School Musical 3" are on track to be finished by month's end.
And Columbia/MGM's latest Bond adventure "Quantum of Silence"
is set to wrap next week.

United Artists is squeezing in the additional footage it's
shooting on the Tom Cruise starrer "Valkyrie" before the
witching hour strikes.

CONTINGENCY PLANS

At the same time, a number of movies aiming for key 2009
release dates decided to risk potential disruption by moving
forward anyway.

Columbia's "Angels and Demons," the follow-up to "The Da
Vinci Code," already was forced to postpone production once
when writer Akiva Goldsman could not turn in a script polish
during the writers' strike. With a release date moved from
December 19 to May 15, 2009, the film began shooting this
month, with Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard on location in
Rome. Crossing its fingers, Columbia is calculating that if a
strike does force a shutdown, production can resume in time to
make the spring release date.
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